Residents can comment on sculptures at the Loveland Museum/Gallery

By Jessica Benes Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
07/20/2013 07:36:26 PM MDT

Click "Start Prezi" and then click the arrows at the bottom of the photo to take a visual tour of the artists' proposals.

A new art piece will welcome Loveland visitors to the sweetheart city. As soon as a finalist is chosen. The Visual Arts Commission members will vote on a finalist on Thursday in a meeting at The Rialto Theater Center.

A property with a half circle of young trees on the northeast corner of Interstate-25 and U.S. 34 will serve as the eventual location of the sculpture.

Armed with a $225,000 budget and plenty of research and determination, five finalists in the bid for the opportunity to design that sculpture presented their concepts to the Visual Arts Commission and members of the community on July 11.

Jan Rosetta: Loveland Totem

If You Go

Where to see the sculpture models: Five models of the sculptures are on display in the upstairs lobby of the Loveland Museum/Gallery at 503 N. Lincoln Ave. Community members are welcome to view and leave comments about the sculptures until 11:59 p.m. Sept. 5. The VAC will take these comments into consideration when they vote on the winning proposal Sept. 12.

"Given the popularity of the painted heart sculptures and Valentine remailing program, I feel that the heart will always be part of Loveland's identity," said Jan Rosetta as she presented her design of bronze elk, eagle and other wildlife.

The creatures form a negative space of a heart that she hoped would be noticeable. She said that Loveland has a considerable reputation in the arts but it is the unparalleled bronze community that makes Loveland a unique city. The back of the piece, which would face north, would be black.

The piece would be 16 feet tall and mounted on an 8-foot tall base.

"The universal look and wildlife should appeal to visitors and residents and represent the sweetheart city," Rosetta said. "I believe the piece should inspire by presenting a different perspective on familiar things, but it should also be reflective of the character of the community where it resides."

Ken Bernstein: Heart of Loveland

"This is the first spot you see when you're entering Loveland," said Ken Bernstein. "I thought an iconic image should speak to the name of the city, the founder's name, but also to some of the sentiments you have here in Loveland."

Suzanne Janssen, Public Art/ Business Services Manager at the Loveland Museum/Gallery, works Wednesday July 17, 2013 on one of five models that will be on display at the museum. The models depict sculptures that are competing for the opportunity to be displayed at the I-25 U.S. 34 interchange. (Photo by Lilia Munoz/ Loveland Reporter-Herald)
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Lilia Munoz
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Bernstein said from what he has seen around town, the city boasts a range of representational and modern art. He feels his design -- two red, overlapping shapes that connect at the top to form a heart --speaks to both those sides of the coin. "It's abstract, but obviously a heart," he said. "You can think of it as two swans touching if you want to put imagery to it."

The two sections do connect at the top, which he said provides stabilization and keeps anyone visiting the city from saying, "We're entering Loveland where they have the broken heart."

The piece would be 40 feet tall, which would include a man-made burm with landscaping of native plants.

Team Doug Erion, Jack Kreutzer and Doug Rutledge: Equinox

"Doug and Doug and myself have created a timeline of Loveland's past and an energized future with horses and symbols," Jack Kreutzer said about their sculpture of three horses flying over rolling railroad tracks 40 feet in the air.

The stylized horses will have "decorations" of cherries, hands that represent community, wavy lines of moving currents and other symbols that describe Loveland.

"We knew the site would be critical," Erion said. "We knew it had to be big. We got to thinking, this piece could turn into a Colorado landmark."

The piece will stand 50 feet tall at the highest point and be 100 feet long.

Jane DeDecker: Heart of Loveland

"My work is a cumulative process of life experiences. Each piece tells a story and each piece is a narrative," she said. "The finished piece hopefully reveals my thoughtful study of the subject and my creative process."

Her thoughtful study of Loveland and the location was the inspiration for a pair of figures reaching for each other in the form of a heart.

It was meant almost as a platonic love, she said. One figure is yearning while the other is welcoming and helping.

Her works is often inspired by nature. This piece is no different. The holding hands are inspired by the valley between Longs and Meeker, and the piece itself is meant to almost emulate the rivers converging and the changing courses.

The piece will be 20 feet tall and stand on a 3 foot base.

Team RE:site: Rising Field

"We look at the site and allow the site to tell us what the work should be," Norman Lee said. In their research of Loveland, the pair came up with images like cherries, fields, technology and plows.

"We were struck by the relationship of its agricultural past and technological present," Lee said.

Lee said the RE:site team looked at ways to reinterpret an image in an artistic way and designed "Rising Field" accordingly. And what they came up with were plow discs.

The steel circles don't look like much on their own. But when hundreds of plow discs in varying shapes are painted red on one side and mounted on stainless steel pipe soaring into the air, the creation is suddenly a rendition of movement, fields, or cherries.

The discs range in size from 12 to 20 inches.

Response

At the VAC meeting, Gloria Hice-Idler with the Colorado Department of Transportation was concerned about the color red in several of the sculptures because red is a touchy color on state roads since it can be confused with stop lights.

Suzanne Janssen with the Visual Arts Commission said the commission would work with the winning artist and CDOT on an acceptable shade of red.

One member of the VAC was concerned with students trying to climb or sit on the plow discs in the Rising Field sculpture. Lee assured the audience that the discs are not comfortable for sitting and are spaced too far apart for climbing.

Members questioned the burm and landscaping in the piece by Bernstein, and the artist stated that the landscaping would be worked into the budget and native plants would be used that require little maintenance. Any minimal maintenance required in the future would be applied by the VAC, Janssen said.

Suzanne Janssen, Public Art/ Business Services Manager at the Loveland Museum/Gallery, glues paper stop lights to a miniature model, on Wednesday July 17, 2013. Five models will be on display at the museum so people can comment on which they would like to see installed at the I-25 U.S. 34 interchange. (Photo by Lilia Munoz/ Loveland Reporter-Herald)
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Lilia Munoz
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